90619 - Art and Museum Education (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, students will acquire historical, theoretical and critical-methodological knowledge about education and communication strategies which can promote long-lasting relations between visitors, museums and the historical-artistic heritage. During the course, they will be able to use transversal skills in order to assess communication, diffusion, divulgation, non-formal and informal museum educational actions, in compliance with European guidelines and international recommendations.

Course contents

Learning outcomes a.a. 2019/2020

By the end of the course, students will have acquired historical, theoretical and critical-methodological knowledge about education and communication strategies, which can promote long-lasting relations between visitors, museums and the historical-artistic heritage. During the course, they will be able to use transversal skills in order to assess communication, diffusion, divulgation, non-formal and informal museum educational actions, in compliance with European guidelines and international recommendations.

 

Course contents

The course aims to deal with the notions of gaps and mediations in art museums from an inter- and intracultural standpoint.

It is organised in three sections:

A. Museums&audience: barriers and mediations;

B. Museum communication: writing texts for exhibitions;

C. Art and science: overcoming the “two cultures”.

The topics are approached from these perspectives:

• relationships between museum display, mediation and cultural action (with best/worst practices examples);
• museum experiences (with a focus on visitors imagination and creativity);
• “narratives” (i.e. syncretism, matches, boundaries and conflicts between words and images in museum context);
• translation of knowledge (with a focus on the relationship between art and science in museums and exhibition spaces).

Some exercises about exhibition texts writing will be proposed during the course.

Readings/Bibliography

 

Notice

• 6 CFU (Art and museum education): 3 texts: 2 texts listed in section A + 1 text listed in section B or C;
• 12 CFU (Art and Cultural Mediation: History, Methods and European Trends): 5 texts: 3 texts listed in section A (all the books) + 1 listed in section B + 1 listed in section C.

N.B. In each section, you will find a “recommended reading”, i.e. optional books that allow you to develop the section topics from a “narrative” perspective. Therefore, they are to be considered as supplementary readings and do not substitute any text (of the section or of the whole bibliography) for the examination.

 

Section A – Museums&audience: barriers and mediations

• M.T. Balboni Brizza, Immaginare il museo. Riflessioni sulla didattica e sul pubblico, Jaca Book, Milano 2006.
• Pezzini, Semiotica dei nuovi musei, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2011.
• M. Negri, La grande rivoluzione dei musei europei, Marsilio, Venezia 2016 (2° ed. 2018).

Recommended reading (optional and supplementary): A. Bennett, Una visita guidata [tit. or.: Going to the Pictures], Adelphi, Milano 2008.

 

Section B – Museum communication: writing texts for exhibitions

• A. Andreini (ed.), La parola scritta nel museo. Lingua, accesso, democrazia, Regione Toscana - Direzione generale politiche formative, beni e attività culturali, 2009 [pdf downloadable from teacher’s website];

• C. Da Milano, E. Sciacchitano, Linee guida per la comunicazione nei musei: segnaletica interna, didascalie e pannelli (Quaderni della valorizzazione – NS) 1, MIBAC, Roma, 2015 [pdf downloadable from teacher’s website];
• M. Ekarv, Combating redundancy: writing texts for exhibitions + H. Coxall, Museum Text as mediated message, in E. Hooper-Greenhill (ed.), The Educational Role of the Museum, 2^nd edition, Routledge, London-New York 1999, pp. 201-204, 215-222 [pdf downloadable from teacher’s website];
• D. Jacobi, D. Miège, «La médiation écrite de l’art contemporain: tensions et paradoxes», Quaderns de Filologia. Estudis Lingüístics, vol. X, 2005, pp. 113-130 [pdf downloadable from teacher’s website];

Recommended reading (optional and supplementary): J. Berger, Questione di sguardi [tit. or. Ways of seeing], Il Saggiatore, Milano 2015.

 

Section C – Art&Science: overcoming the “two cultures”

• G. Pinna, Introduzione e Fondamenti teorici per un museo di storia naturale, in G. Pinna, A. Lugli, V. Vercelloni, Tre idee di museo, ed. by G. Pinna, Jaca Book, Milano 2005, pp. 9-36; 89-158.
• M. Merzagora, P. Rodari, La scienza in mostra. Musei, science centre e comunicazione, Bruno Mondadori, Milano 2007.
• C. Tartarini, Quadri di sintomi, FrancoAngeli, Milano 2015.
• C. Tartarini, Il pennello di Cupido. Il dottor Meige e il mal d’amore nella pittura olandese del Seicento, Carocci, Roma 2017.

Recommended reading (optional and supplementary): L. Weschler, Il gabinetto delle meraviglie di Mr. Wilson [tit. or. Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder], Adelphi, Milano 1999.

 

Further recommended readings (optional and supplementary)

• S. Bodo (ed.), Il museo relazionale. Riflessioni ed esperienze europee, Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli, Torino 2003.
• P. Bourdieu, A. Darbel, L’amore dell’arte, le leggi della diffusione culturale: i musei d’arte europei e il loro pubblico [or. tit.: L'amour de l’art: les musées et leur public], Guaraldi, Rimini 1972.
• S. Chaumier, F. Mairesse, La médiation culturelle, Armand Colin, Paris 2017 (2 ed.).
• J. Elkins, Dipinti e lacrime. Storie di gente che ha pianto davanti a un quadro [or. tit.: Pictures& Tears. A History of People who Have Cried in Front of Paintings], Bruno Mondadori, Milano 2007.
• K. Gibbs, M. Sani, J. Thompson J. (eds.), Musei e apprendimento lungo tutto l’arco di vita. Manuale europeo (or english version: Lifelong learning in Museums. An European Handbook), Edisai, Ferrara 2007.
• G. E. Hein, Learning in the Museum, Routledge, London-New-York 1998.
• E. Hooper-Greenhill, I musei e la formazione del sapere [or. tit.: Museums and the Shaping of Knowledge], Il Saggiatore, Milano 2005 [or online English version]
• F. Russoli, Senza utopia non si fa la realtà. Scritti sul museo (1952-1977), ed. by E. Bernardi, Skira, Milano 2017.
• G. Ginex (ed.), “Sono Fernanda Wittgens”. Una vita per Brera, Skira, Milano 2018.

 

N.B. – for attending students only

Further readings will be provided during the course. For specific interests, or in order to agree a different reading list for the examination, students are asked to contact the teacher before the end of the course.

Teaching methods

Lectures; participatory teaching; active and collaborative learning; flipped teaching.

Assessment methods

The final exam is in an interview based on the bibliography specified above; it seeks to verify the students’ critical understanding of the texts and (especially for attending students) the knowledge of main topics discussed in class, as well as the mastering of the methods and critical tools acquired during the course.

Marking system

• It will be marked as “excellent” the performance of those students demonstrating in-depth knowledge and an organic view of the course contents. The ability to connect different topics and the proper use of the specific language will be also essential.
• It will be graded as “good” the performance of those students using a proper language and demonstrating a correct knowledge of the topics, plus a good analysis and synthesis capability.
• It will be graded as “sufficient” the performance of those students showing mostly mnemonic knowledge, superficial understanding, poor analytical capabilities and a not always appropriate language.
• It will be graded as “insufficient” the performance of those students demonstrating learning gaps, inappropriate language and lack of orientation within the recommended bibliography.

To take the exam, students shall register in the list on AlmaEsami respecting the deadlines.

N.B. Students already registered who decide not to sit the examination are kindly required to unregister before the deadline (see Exam sessions-Subscriptions list: opened from …. to ….). This simplify the organisation of the exam session for the benefit of the students.

Teaching tools

Lectures; PowerPoint and audio-visual projections; web resources; shared materials with attending students; class exercises concerning in particular Section B (Museum communication: writing texts for exhibitions).

Office hours

See the website of Chiara Tartarini